Origins

The moonlight filters into the room from the skylight above, filtering through elixirs and causing a heartier glow to come through. The gentle putter of an almost burnt-out fire comes from the heath, the room still warmed from its pre-death. There’s still a figure sat in front of a desk, back straight, proper posture to have been sat for so long, a tail curls around from behind it, long and fluffy, almost like a sleeping creature out on a cushioned stool to the side. It shifts slightly, nose visible as it’s little tongue like protrusion flitters in its sleep.
However, Islington’s nose scrunches up as he pours his gaze over the paper in front of him again. He’s been stuck on this for far longer than he wanted, he planned to stay up late, that’s not what’s annoying him, the data however, that’s is what is annoying him. It doesn’t make sense, which is not right, he took this data himself it should be correct down to the tiniest percentage, not out so badly like this. The frustration has to escape somehow and it does so with an angry huff and his hands slamming down on the desk. The sound causes his tail to awake with a start, glancing around before then curling up to her master’s shoulder. Letting out what can only be called a purr as she nuzzles into the side of his neck. This helps to distract Islington, soft only for her, which is good really as they’re attached for life, which does also make her the most reliable person in Islington’s life. He lets out a slightly softer sigh this time, raising a hand to run through his hair before then coming to rest in her fur, his other shifts his eyepatch to rub under it. The things gotten too warm and is irritating him now, but he won’t take it off, not until bed, so he shifts it back into its proper place.
The sea outside his window laps softly against the cliff below, reminding the world it’s there, but not angry, at least not yet. The full moon pleasing it as well as what must be the only diurnal creature still up at this hour, the gentle wind prods at the window attracting Islington’s gaze.
“Should we go for a walk, Delilah? I think it will work to clear my head so I can then organize this information before the sun welcomes us.” He asks. Delilah doesn’t reply, she doesn’t need to, he mostly asks out of politeness, it’s not like she could really stop him, it’s mostly his body after all, instead she weaves back down him and rests herself on her stool for him to get up. Waiting until she’s done Islington stands and pushes his chair back, he really does hope that this walk will help him to get his head straight, otherwise this small chunk of data will just continue to stick in his brain and annoy him.
They leave the room, chair just in the right place, fire sputtering out, papers as they were, it almost looks like the owner has turned invisible, everything still out as if in study, and it’s left like this as he knows it will be primal if he has to rush back and suddenly solve it all. His house is quiet, almost too quiet. It’s very large for one man, that’s what the realtor told him, he simple pointed out he has more than enough money that it shouldn’t matter to her. A family home, she described it as, perfect for a young flourishing family, there’s 5 bedrooms after all. Islington found it difficult to smile and nod through that, but he kept to his manners, he’s not planning on one of those, probably ever, he’ll have an heir at some point, someone who understands needs to take on his work, but he has to find that first. It was worse when he met his neighbors, however spread out he is from the rest of the road, none of them got a memo that he was alone and a happy bachelor, he only needed Delilah and his work, a few seemed even more unimpressed when, when asked what he does for a living, he told them he works at and owns the new lab that’s nearby. Needless to say, he saw them all out the second it was polite enough and he’s not seen any of them since that day.
As he gets to his backdoor that leads down towards the beach, he makes sure the mat is out right, the only problem with having clawed feet is sand gets everywhere. He unlatches the door and steps out, basking slightly in the moonlight that graces his features, it’s incredibly bright out tonight, but there’s a low sea fog, obscuring down any of the length of beach. A good stretch of it is his, though he conceded to let the neighbors use some of it in peak weather, mostly so they wouldn’t bother him, he much prefers it at night anyway. As he walks down the sloop, Delilah lets herself bob along slightly, occasionally brushing her nose against the sand plants that grow, she loves it even more than he does, and she’s more than happy to show it. Once they’re down on the sand, Delilah lets herself drop, most of her head on the sand and it starts to seep and find its way into her thick fur, Islington can’t help the sigh that escapes, it takes a lot of time to fully de-sand her.
“Really Deli?” He asks, the nickname just coming out before he can really process it. She lifts herself back up before nodding violently, causing more sand to come flying out of her, Islington swiftly dusts it off of his suit. He doesn’t say anything else though, nothing else really needs to be said, and the gentle noise of the night is more than enough for him to listen to.
The two head down towards the rush of the water, the sand being engulfed and dragged back slightly before the whole process is repeated again, the tide seems to be good in it’s position right now, though it doesn’t seem far off of high tide. The two stare out at the water for a bit, Islington’s mind is still humming with information and data, it never really stops if he’s honest, sometimes it gets all too overwhelming but it’s grounding and he needs that. As the water rhythmically laps at the shore Islington smiles, there’s nothing wrong with a routine, the ocean proves that one out to him, the ocean is loved and it is so very predictable. There’s also nothing wrong with not having friends, he socializes enough with his workers, sometimes his mind drifts back to those he left behind from school, but he has greatness to go onto, and they, well, they’ll go on to something. A gull screeches from above, snapping him back to reality. It doesn’t really matter though, his life is like the ocean, predictable and clearly full of gulls, occasionally people dip in, sometimes they return, but they don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things.
However, his life is just like the ocean, and sometimes a Tsunami hits.


The two head along the coast, the way the gull flew, maybe if he can’t get the data to make sense it’s worth looking over something else for a bit, then coming back, that might make it make sense; or even, he could get some of his top scientists to look over it and see what they think, he doesn’t need to tell them that it’s been causing a problem for him. Delilah suddenly starts prodding at Islington’s side, violently shoving her nose into him causing him to stop, raising his arm to look at her.
“Deli, what?” He asks and she prods him again before then snapping to stare ahead. Islington tilts his head before assuming she’s probably spotted something she wants him to look at. It’s probably a baby seal or something like that, he thinks as he turns to look before he has to stop his jaw from dropping open. It’s definitely something, a humanoid, as it seems from this distance, taller than him passed out on the shore, water lapping at its lower half as if the ocean has personally dropped them off. Islington picks up speed before dropping to his knees by the person, he’s not stupid, rather he’d like to say he’s very intelligent, someone being washed up like this could very easily be drowned. He checks for a pulse, he seems at least partially Cariduus, possibly Draconic too, but also seems to be a hybrid; so, a pulse should be somewhere he can easily check and should be at a similar rate to his own. There’s a pulse there but it’s very faint, and Islington panics slightly before relaxing his breathing, he knows what to do, after all he was also forced through an oceans accidents course after having purchased the stretch of beach. With Deli’s help he shifts the figure onto its side while also carefully pulling him further from the ocean’s reach, nothing seems to be broken on them. The large pair of fin like wings cause some difficulty in the process as well as the small pointed dorsal fin that it seems to have, which is incredibly strange. Islington moves around to now be facing the persons face, long off-white hair is matted around them, caught in ram like horns, but they do seem to be breathing, even though it’s a little labored.
The first thing he needs to do is now gently wake this person, there’s no way he could carry them back to his house, but it’s also not safe to leave them out here, especially not so close to the water. Deli shifts and comes around to gently lay over the figure, who Islington suddenly realizes isn’t actually wearing any cloths which is even stranger, so he quickly removes his jacket and Deli shifts so he can lay it over them and protect their modesty. He takes a grounding breath before gently shaking the other person’s shoulder,
“Please wake up.” He repeats, softly but loudly enough that it should be getting through to the other person. A few beats pass, each second Islington can feel his blood pressure raise, there’s breathing and a heartbeat so cpr won’t be the next option, he’s on his side so any water in his lungs won’t drown him.
Suddenly the other person shifts, Islington leans back onto his knees, Deli sits next to him to not overwhelm the person as they wake up. Their eyelids flitter a couple times before opening wide, Islington has to not double take at the second eyelid that slides back at this point revealing pale blue eyes. Then panic sets in to the other person.
“Woah, woah, it’s okay.” Islington holds his arms up to show he means no harm, that should be a universal gesture after all. “Look, do you know where you are? I’ve just found you almost drowned washed up on my beach.” He asks and the other person then looks around widely, taking in where he now is.
“I shouldn’t be here, where are the others, why am I on the surface?” He asks panicked, his voice rather smooth though, he then pauses a second, “Why? Wait, I can’t, the others I can’t remember-what were their names. I, what does my mother look like.” His voice strains and tears well up in his eyes. Deli and Islington glance at each other in concern,
“Look, you’ve probably bashed your head in the water which is what knocked you unconscious, if you just, wrap my coat around you to keep your dignity, you can come and stay at my house and I’ll get you sorted out. I’m a scientist and have a couple strains of knowledge that can help keep you healthy until the morning when I can contact my doctor.” Islington states, coming up with a plan as he talks, he’d rather not have a stranger stay in his house but he also doesn’t really have another choice in the matter. The man in front of him nods slightly and balls the jacket up more in front of him, at least it wasn’t one Islington cared too deeply about.
Islington stands first and offers out an arm, the other man wobbly from his ordeal, and also because he still seems to be a bit lost in his head,
“Prescott. My name, I can remember that.” He states gently, “My name is Prescott, and what’s yours sir?” He asks as he wraps the coat around his waist and pushes his matted hair back from his face, and bashing some sand out of his chest fur.
“My name is Islington, and you can call my tail here Delilah, you are very lucky we came out, I dare not think what else could have happened to you.” Islington states, slowly leading him back up to the house.

Once they’re back in the house, Islington directs him to sit on the sofa with a wince, the water and sand will probably ruin it, before heading upstairs to find some cloths that will both fit this man, Prescott but that he also doesn’t mind being ruined. Prescott stayed silent, fiddling with his claws as he took in everything around him, Islington’s house is impressive even if you’re used to someone with money.
Coming back down with a large shirt & shorts for Prescott, a shirt that was a gift and shorts from when he thought he might like to wear the things, none of the trousers would fit Prescott’s leg length anyway. He also has a first aid kit, as Prescott walked, he spotted a couple cuts along his side, that will be painful untreated, full of salt water and sand.
“Right, I have a spare room you can stay in and some cloths. There are a couple wounds you have that I’d like to check over myself and make sure you have no head bleeding, I’ll get the doctor over as soon as I can in the morning to check you over.” He states, trying to remember not to speak too fast so Prescott can take it all in. Islington places the cloths on the sofa arm before carefully approaching Prescott’s side,
“And then where do I go?” He asks softly, and Islington looks back up at him, he’s crying, “I don’t remember anything of my life other than my name, I have no money or even cloths in my possession.” He starts to snivel, Delilah wraps around and gently sits on his knee, looking up with pity, gently butting one of his hands until he sinks it into her fur, while Prescott’s distracted, she shoots a glare over at Islington, who can’t help the sigh.
“We’ll think short term right now, okay Prescott, your memory will come back.” Deli glares again, “I have a spare room you can stay in for longer than a night, and I’m sure I can find a slot for you to do some work for me and earn some money. I can feed you as long as you follow my timetable & help keep the house clean, the second floor other than the bedroom I give you will be off limits however.” He explains while looking over his side, there’s a couple nicks and slices out of the wings too, but they will heal fine.
“Are you sure? You don’t know me.” Prescott splutters out and Islington looks up and makes eye contact with him,
“In the kindest way possible Prescott, you don’t know who you are at the moment, and it would be remise of me to let you out of my sight. Let me just clean these, it will sting then I’ll give you a couple of minutes to compose yourself and I’ll show you where you can stay.”
Prescott nods and Islington gets to cleaning the wounds on his side, he  quickly looks over Prescott’s head, which is hard with the mass of hair, but as he’d only be able to identify external bleeding anyway, and this hair would show it up fast he’s happy enough to decide it’s safe.
He leaves the room to put the kit back away and wash his hands, a glance down at his trousers says they’ll need a lot of rescuing, not designed for sand and sea foam.
When he re-enters, the room, not only is Prescott wearing the cloths he gave him, but also the jacket, but he does seem to be shivering slightly and Islington didn’t say not to so he can’t really complain. The two leave in silence, though it seems comfortable, Prescott sticking tight behind Islington, as if not to get lost in the house. Though Islington is more aware that it’s to do with the other circumstances then the size of the house itself.
Prescott’s eyes widen as he sees the size of the room he’s been given, it’s sparsely furnished but still got a large bed, chair, dressing table and wardrobe, there’s enough room on the floor to lay down there and three large, plush blankets on the side. Most of them were gifts from his workers, it’s hard to disappoint someone by gifting them a blanket.
“If you need any of the layout moved about, we can do that tomorrow, I know some people can’t sleep with a bed under the window, I also apologize for the lack of curtains, if need be throw a blanket over the pole.” Islington states and Prescott nods graciously as he steps into the room.
“Thank you so much sir!” Prescott smiles out and Delilah preens in response, giving away part of how Islington is feeling right now.
“It’s no problem, Prescott, the bathroom, you can use that of course, is the door at the top of the stairs we used. Feel free to explore downstairs when you get up.” Islington replies, and once he’s got an affirmative noise from Prescott, he steps back and gently pulls the door to, before heading down to the master bedroom. Prescott can shut the door fully if he wants to. It doesn’t take long for him to strip and change into his bed cloths, he’ll need to grab some for Prescott tomorrow and probably some real cloths after the Doctors gone.
All thoughts of the data he was stuck on has left him mind and he crawls in under his cover, Delilah diving straight under to be completely covered. He doesn’t even bother to do any of his bed time routine, instead just tossing his eyepatch off, it lands somewhere on his dresser before he drifts off to sleep.

He awakens as the sun dusts his ceiling above him, his eyes squinting slightly until he adapts. It doesn’t take long for the previous day’s events to wash over him, though he’s not sure if that was also this morning’s events. Getting out of bed, he grabs his eyepatch, putting that on before then heading out of his room, he can’t hear anything so he heads over to the room he’s leant to Prescott. He won’t make a habit of this, but he gently pushes the door open and steps in to look the other man over, he’s still breathing which is a relief, far deeper breaths of slumber rather then the labored ones he was making even when Islington left him in the room. Exiting the room, he heads down to make breakfast and phone his Doc, it may just be dawn but the other man is always up at this hour, an early riser that man, but he does also go to sleep at a more sensible time. As he cooks, Deli prods his side, as if to call him a sucker, Islington rarely has a cooked breakfast, he’s even made a couple options incase Prescott doesn’t like fish, he seems to be at least semi-aquatic but that doesn’t mean he would eat fish. By the time he’s finished cooking, he still hasn’t heard movement from upstairs, so puts some in the oven to just keep warm for Prescott while he arranges his own plate and grabs the phone.
He’s just hung up when Prescott appears, looking a little nervous in the cloths from yesterday. Delilah practically vibrates as she sees him, and he smiles back at the tail before then regaining the sheepish look, Islington sighs softly,
“I cooked some breakfast, I didn’t know what you liked so I made a range, feel free to only pick at what you like, I’d much rather know what you will eat then waste more food cooking you stuff you don’t like.” He states while getting up, he takes Prescott's food out of the oven and onto the placemat on the table, before gesturing at him to sit and eat. He grabs his own plate to wash up, and while doing so speaks,
“I phoned my doctor, he’ll be over as soon as he can, and he is a lovely man, far better with people then I am. If it is alright with you, I shall head to the store to just grab a bit more food and some cloths for you. I can take you another day to get cloths in styles you like, but I can’t have you in my old cloths that don’t really fit you until then.” Delilah prods his side again, all but calling him a softy, but he can’t be blamed. The man is very proud and he would not do with sending someone out on the street nor looking like a mess in second hand clothes that don’t even fit them right, Islington had to loosely cut holes for Prescott’s wings and fin to fit through, having holographic wings has the benefit of not needing that extra tailoring from a general store, but doesn’t work if you suddenly have a house guest who needs wing holes. He’s sure that they’ll be more than happy to do the extra hole for Prescott’s back fin as well, it’s extra money for them after all. Though Islington’s curiosity suddenly beats his polite nature,
“Why do you have that dorsal fin, Prescott? I’ve never seen a hybrid like you.” he states, turning to look at the other man, who has done a surprisingly good job of shoveling most of the food into his mouth, he’s not picky then.
“Oh.” Prescott says, quickly swallowing the rest of the food in his mouth. “It’s because I can do this.” He states pushing the chair back and then moving to a clear bit of flooring. It almost feels to Islington like he blinked and missed it, one minute the Prescott he knew was stood in front of him, the next a large aquatic canid creature is stood in that spott. The dorsal fin now making more sense on the back, the creature seems almost streamlined for swimming, and part of Islington thinks that it’s also not regular for them to have hind legs, the way Prescott’s bone structure there looks from the outside seems unique rather than a regular feature of their kind. Prescott is definitely a hybrid then.
“Yeah, so this is what I remember we normally looked like, my, my family I think looked like that rather than more like you.” He states, nose scrunching as he tries to focus on the memories he’s lost. His ears flick as he looks up at Islington,
“Well I admit that I took can take on a four-legged appearance, for me draconic due to my subspecies, and the one that you are also hybridized too. I have never seen something that even looks like you.” Islington states, trying his hardest to approach. Prescott nods slightly,
“Yeah well mostly aquatic, never really came to towns, though I’m sorry but I can’t remember what I am, it’s, it’s like it’s at the tip of my tongue but I just can’t quite reach it.” He looks sad again and then shifts back to the humanoid form Islington found him in, and he’s very glad he’s still clothed.
“It’s alright…” He starts but is then interrupted by the doorbell as Prescott starts to finish off his plate. “I should go get that it will be the doctor.” He states instead and almost flees from the room. Islington’s head is spinning, he doesn’t know what to say to comfort the man, memory loss can be a slippery slope and he doesn’t want to keep making what can be empty promises.
Islington’s slight optimism drops the minute he sees his doctor’s face, hers is incredibly severe, normal, but also full of concern.
“Is he up yet Islington? From the memory symptoms you’ve described he seems in an awful place that he won’t return from.” She states, bland and cold always looking on the worse side of things, that is why Islington really likes her, this however doesn’t seem to work right with the optimism that Prescott seems to already be showing.
“I get that Mara, just please, don’t scare the poor boy. He seems really worried about this, and the fact that from what he remembers, he was incredibly close with his family group.” Islington explains, soft enough so that Prescott will be unable to hear them from the kitchen. “I am also going to need you to play nice while I run out and get him some cloths, he is both too large for mine and I also don’t want to slice holes in all of my spares.” Islington warns and Mara laughs as she enters his house.
“You know me Islington, I always play nice,” he narrows his eyes at her, “But I will make sure to not scare him, but I do need to be honest. Plus, it’s nice to see you invite someone else into your life, I’m sure your mother would be proud of you.” She adds. Islington quickly cuts her off from going further into the house,
“I’m not letting him into my life,” He snaps in a harsh whisper, “And if my mother wants to be proud of anything it should be the company which I am building, not that I need someone else in my life, because I don’t.” He snaps.
The air becomes harsh between the two of them, but Islington tries to brush it away slightly as he introduces the two of them to each other, keeping an eye on Prescott’s body language to make sure that he feels comfortable enough to be left alone with Mara. She is a lot to take in, and an acquired taste, but that does seem to be why his family always leant towards her for any needs that they had, she was in Islington’s life a lot growing up.
“Right.” He continues, “Now, I’m going to leave you two here as I run to the store. Mara don’t scare him; Prescott I know she’s a lot but I trust her with my life.” He states, as if she felt left out of the conversation, Deli lifts herself up and nods, before then rushing into Prescott and nuzzling into him slightly. Prescott strokes her head and she then pulls back to Islington, who rests a hand on her head, he’ll have to have words with her about how comfortable she’s gotten with him already, he’s not here to stay, so there’s no point putting herself out like this.
Prescott nods,
“Alright, Islington, again thanks for everything that you’ve done for me so far. I really hope I can pay you back tenfold for what you’ve done.” He smiles, tail flicking slightly behind him.
“Don’t thank me until I’ve found you a way to earn money,” Islington states in a slightly teasing way and he’s hoping that it’s coming across to him in that way, “Alright, so I’ll be off, don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.” Islington adds, in a more warning tone. He still doesn’t really know Prescott, and there is a fine thought that he could be stringing him along, though he doesn’t suspect this too much, it would be one hell of a scheme relying on a lot of luck and good timing. Anyway, it’s not like any of this arrangement is permanent, Islington can see it being a month, two at most before Prescott is good and set to move on and live somewhere else, maybe even find a more appropriate job for him to earn money himself.